Queen of the Creek
by UDChibi
Summary: What happens when you grow up with a prince watching over you?
1. Chapter 1

Loki fanfic ch.1

Nina slid down the side of the bank into the creek bed. Nina's Mother hated it when she came down here, she always told Nina that she would slip and hit her head on one of the rocks.

Nina loved the creek.

She loved to watch the water flow between the rocks, loved to let leaves loose on the stream, and restructure the rocks to make new rivers. She liked to pretend that she was the fairy queen of the creek, and pretended that sticks she found to be the right height were her magic staff. Playing in the creek was much more fun than being with her parents, it got boring sitting with her parents and their friends on picnic days. She was the only kid amongst a dozen adults and all they did was talk. Talking was no fun, especially when it was about jobs and people and politics. Nina wanted to stick her tongue out at the thought of it.

So she had snuck away-which had been half the fun, truth be told-and had walked awhile down the trail to find the nearby creek. She was only about fifteen minutes away from her parents, and she was almost eight now, and a fairy queen besides that, surely she could be trusted to take care of herself.

So she enjoyed herself in the solace of the creek, tossing leaves in and watching them slide down her rivers. She found toads and pretended that they were princes that she had turned into toads, pointing her magic staff at them, and pushed the rocks around to make new streams.

She was sitting on the edge of a rock, looking down into the water when it happened. A bright beam of green light came down from the sky, and plummeted into the ground. Nina jumped up like a cat when it came. Through the bright of the light Nina could see a figure standing in the center of it. When the light stopped, she saw him clearly.

It was a man, a tall man, with pale skin and black hair that came down to his shoulders. He wore what looked to Nina to be armor, criss-crossing black, green, and gold. His eyes were of some of the bluest that Nina had ever seen. But those eyes beauty didn't stop Nina from turning and bolting back towards the trail when they were on her.

Nina went back to the edge of the creek bed and used the tree roots and rocks to help her climb back up and out. Unfortunately, Nina slipped on her way up. She gulped. Her foot was now caught between the creek wall and a root that had weaved in and out of the ground. Nina started to panic and tried to wrench her foot out of the root.

"If you keep that up you will injure yourself. Please allow me." A silky voice said from behind. She felt a hand on her back and saw the man had come to her side, sitting on the tips of his feet on a stone to look her in the eyes.

"If you hurt me I'll kick your butt." Nina said as bravely as she could. The man laughed and had already put a hand around her trapped ankle.

"I have no intention of hurting you, so please hold still for a moment." The stranger said. Nina complied and the man put his other hand on the root that was trapping her. With a combination of pulling the root away and maneuvering Nina's foot, Nina was pulled free and the stranger caught her in one of his arms. He stood up with her in one arm, Nina's eyes bright with fear, and placed her at the top of the creek bed. Nina turned around to look down at him, her arms crossed.

"Who are you?" Nina demanded.

"I am Loki Odin-son of Asgard. Might I ask for your name milady?" Loki said, kneeling before her on one knee. He made a gesture that Nina couldn't name, making his hand into a fist and crossing that arm across his chest. Nina thought it made him look very regal and she smiled and tried not to giggle.

"I am Nina, fairy queen of this creek." Nina said, standing as tall as she could and gesturing towards the creek. Loki smiled, dimples spreading across both cheeks.

"I am so sorry to have disturbed your kingdom my Queen Nina, how might I make up for this egregious error?" Loki said grinning wide now. Nina smiled back, happy he was playing her game. At that moment however, Nina heard the worried voice of her father in the distance, calling her name.

Loki gracefully stepped up the creek bed and bent towards her, with one arm bent behind his back and the other held out.

"Perhaps I could escort back to your courtiers my Queen?" Loki asked. Nina nodded and took his hand. They started walking back towards the trail, hand in hand, towards Nina's family. Nina kept her eyes up at him while Loki looked straight ahead.

"Where's Asgard?" Nina asked.

"Another realm."

"What's a realm?" Loki chuckled at her question and looked down to smile at her.

"A world."

"Does that mean you're a space alien?"

"I believe your people have labeled us as 'Gods'." Loki replied looking back towards the trail. Nina wasn't sure she believed this. She had never seen him in any of the books that they handed her in Sunday school, but she never paid much attention in Sunday school anyway.

"Is Odin-son your last name?"

"It more explains my family heritage. King Odin of Asgard is my Father and since I am his son it makes Odin-son."

"So…if your Dad is a King then that makes you a prince right?"

"That is correct my Queen." He smiled down at her again when he added 'my Queen'.

"Oh." Was all Nina said, still holding his hand. He was much more handsome than the princes she had imagined turning into toads. She was glad she hadn't mentioned that part of her Queenship when she had said she was Queen of the creek.

"What's a prince from another…realm doing here?" Nina asked. Loki only gave her a bemused smirk.

"I can't be giving my secrets out to the Queen of another land can I?" Loki said. He pointed down the trail. "Is that your Father?" Nina looked and nodded, her Father had started walking in the opposite direction, but she and Loki weren't far behind.

"Then this is where I leave you Queen Nina," Loki said, kneeling on one knee again and planting a kiss on the hand he had been holding. Nina blushed furiously. "Go on now, he sounds worried for you." Nina nodded and thanked him before setting off, running towards her Father.

"Daddy! Daddy!" She called towards her father. Her father gave her a relieved expression before going down on his knees to welcome her into his arms.

"Nina! We were so worried! What have we told you about wandering off on your own? Especially with that freakshow in the sky…" her father trailed off looking at her.

"I was playing in the creek and got stuck. Loki helped me."

"Loki? Who's Loki sweetheart?" Nina's father asked.

"He's the-" Nina said, turning to point behind her. She stopped mid-sentence putting her arm back down to her side. Loki had disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

Loki fanfic ch. 2

Nina went out to the schoolyard with the other kids in her class, a book tucked underneath her jacket and sweater. She wasn't supposed to bring books out into the schoolyard, or anything for that matter. But it was her recess time, and she thought that she should be able to do as she pleased during her one break of the day.

Nina found a secluded corner on the other side of the playground, where the teacher and students wouldn't find her unless they really looked for her. She wasn't really hiding, she was near enough to the other children and their teacher, but it was in a spot that no one looked at because no one played in it. She sat down on the cold ground, leaning against a tree, and smiled as she opened up her favorite book, _Matilda_. Her father had brought it back for her during one of his long business trips and she had loved it ever since. That had been when she was nine, but even at eleven years old Nina still frequently picked _Matilda_'s now worn cover off the shelf.

"Whatcha doin' there Mouse?" a fellow student asked. Nina almost groaned. She had thought that the other students hadn't seen her sneak off on her own. Apparently she had been mistaken. She ignored Will, her least favorite boy in her class, and concentrated instead on the words on the page. Will was extremely unpleasant, one of the crueler boys whose stupidity alone made Nina want to throttle him. Tall and gangly, he still had enough strength and sharp words to make her miserable. _Maybe he'll go away if I ignore him_, she hoped.

"Still readin' your stupid books are ya'? I promise you they won't make you any less ugly." Will said, bending down to try to look her in the eyes. Nina's temper flared.

"Well, gotta keep my intelligence up, wouldn't want to end up ugly _and_ stupid like you." Nina said giving Will a close-lipped smile. Will gave her a furious glare, then snapped her book up and out of her reach.

"Hey! Give that _back_!" Nina snapped, jumping to try and reach the book now in his hand high above his head. Will's height ensured that Nina would not reach it no matter how high she jumped.

"Not a chance crazylady." Will laughed, keeping the book aloft. Nina got angrier, that was her least favorite nickname out of all the ones her classmates had made for her. It wasn't even clever or creative, just mean and stupid.

"If you want a book get your own, it might help you grow a brain." Nina said. When Will still didn't drop the book Nina looked both ways, ensuring there was no one else still in their part of the schoolyard. When she saw no one was nearby she gave Will the strongest punch in the gut she could muster.

It worked; Will doubled over groaning and dropping the book. Nina quickly snatched _Matilda_ up off the ground and tried to take off running. Will though had one more strategy up his sleeve and grabbed Nina's hair, yanking her back. Nina dropped the book again, trying to get Will's hand out of her hair. Tears filled Nina's eyes as Will pulled her hair higher and higher above her head. Nina stood on tiptoe and turned around to land hits and kicks on Will. Will only tugged her hair harder.

"You think you can do somethin' like that and get away with it? Everyone here knows you're crazy. Talkin' 'bout some prince comin' out of the sky. " Nina turned around again to look Will in the eye, her hair twisting and causing more pain.

"He was _real_, I saw him."

"Careful now, don't want your psychiatrist to hear ya' sayin' that do ya'?" Will sneered wagging a finger at her. Nina kicked and hit back even harder than before, but Will just gave her hair a harder yank and went one step further, punching her straight in the eye. Nina felt like a brick had hit her eye and cried out.

"_What_ is going on here?" An angry voice asked from behind Nina. Immediately, Will let go of Nina's hair. Nina fell to the ground covering her eye with one hand and massaging her scalp with the other. Nina then turned to look at her savior.

It was _him_. Her prince Loki. She would have recognized him anywhere, even with his different clothes. The biggest difference was that he looked like he had stepped off the cover of a menswear magazine instead of coming from a renaissance festival. He had on a long black coat, a dark green shirt, and black slacks. He also had a black cane with a gold tip for a handle, which Nina found to be a bit odd.

Loki immediately walked up to Will, bearing down on him. Will practically crumpled under the fierceness of Loki's gaze.

"Wh-who the h-hell are you?" Will sputtered.

"I think that I will be the one asking the questions here. Now," Loki said, playing with the cane idly in his hands, "may I ask why you were antagonizing this young lady here?" Loki finished, looking to Nina. Will gulped.

"I was-Sh-she was uh…"

"Doing nothing more than quietly reading a book before _your_ cruelty got the better of you. Is that the answer you were looking for?" Loki said, stepping closer to Will to look down at him.

"Ye-yes." Will mumbled.

"Yes _sir_, boy."

"Yessir."

"Good enough. Now I do believe that you owe Miss. Nina an apology."

"Don't owe her nothing..." Will mumbled again. Immediately Loki's cane was underneath Will's chin forcing Will to look Loki in the eyes.

"What was that boy?" Loki demanded. Will's stupidity or bravery got the better of him.

"I said I don't owe her nothin'. She's a freak, talkin' 'bout some prince of hers that came out of the sky…" Will trailed off. Loki gave Will a smirk before his garb changed before Nina's eyes. Loki changed into the prince that she remembered from the creek, his armor returning with the addition of a gold helmet with two antlers jutting out of it. Will looked like he was about to keel over from sheer terror, his face turning white and his eyes wide.

"I am not sure which part of you I detest more, your abominable pronunciation of the English language or your stupidity. Listen here you mewling quim, you _will_ apologize to this young lady or you will face _this_ prince's wrath. I speak on behalf of King Odin of Asgard, Protector of the Nine Realms. Now, make your choice quickly, as I am not a patient man." Loki said. Will had never looked so terrified. He shot a pleading look to Nina, who had stood up at this point. She stared back defiantly at Will, crossing her arms. Will took one more look at Loki, then looked at Nina, saying a quick "sorry!" before bolting out from underneath Loki's cane.

After Will had left tears filled Nina's eyes, although she was not sure why they were there. Loki's garb changed back to the long black coat, green shirt, and black slacks. He kneeled before her to look her in the eyes, with a sympathetic look on his face.

"Why do they hate me?" Nina asked rubbing her one good eye to try and stop the tears.

"They do not hate you. They simply do not understand you. They do not understand why you would prefer to find solace in the pages of a book than with other children. What people do not understand they try to change, ostracize, or antagonize. That is what you're experiencing." Loki said, using a thumb to wipe away some of her tears.

"But you understand?"

"Finding solace in books rather than people? Very much so." Loki said smiling at her. Nina gave him a weak smile back. "Do not wish to change yourself Nina, uniqueness is a gift, although it is not often seen by others as such. You will see it as a gift yourself one day.

"You promise?"

"You have my word." Loki said, making the same gesture from the creek, making his hand into a fist and crossing the same arm across his chest. Nina smiled genuinely then. "There is, however, a favor I would like to ask of you my Lady Nina. Besides the honor of talking to such a beautiful young lady." Loki said, making Nina smile and blush.

"What is it?"

"I was hoping you could tell me of the historical areas of your town."

"What sort of spots?" Nina asked, frowning.

"Anything that is particularly ancient. It may have symbols or markings on it that your people would not understand." Loki said. Then Nina knew what he was looking for. She remembered it from even before she had met Loki.

"There's a spot right near the creek where you found me the first time. There's a vault in the ground covered with a huge stone. It's covered in symbols that people like scientists and stuff don't understand. Nobody can figure out how to get it open either. They had a group of scientists go out and study it but they still don't know what it is." Nina remembered it because she had often pretended that it was where her fairy throne had been. Nina had tried to open it herself one day, there was a handle to pull it open, but it was either too heavy or needed a key to open it. Loki smiled at her information, apparently satisfied.

"As always my Lady Nina, it is a pleasure talking to you." Nina frowned.

"I _told_ you, I'm a Fairy Queen remember?" Nina said, giving Loki a fake pout and crossing her arms again. Loki gave a small chuckle and a smirk, while standing back up.

"Of course my Queen, my most sincere apologies." Loki said smiling and dropping into a deep bow before her. Nina giggled before regaining her composure, giving him a curtsey of her own. She was glad that she had decided to wear a skirt that day; it was much easier to curtsey with a skirt. Just then, Nina heard the school bell ring. She looked back at Loki with worry in her eyes.

"Will I ever see you again?" Nina said, Loki frowned.

"I most certainly hope so my Queen. Go on, before you are late." Nina nodded and took off to go and find her teacher, but not without thanking Loki for his help.

Nina's teacher was concerned when she saw Nina's now bruised and swollen eye. Nina told him that she had tripped during recess and went to the nurse for a cool compress before heading back to class. She hoped that not telling on Will for punching her would keep him quiet about seeing Loki. She figured that Will wouldn't want to be considered crazy either so that would keep his mouth shut as well. It wasn't until she was heading back to class, cold compress on her eye, that she remembered she had left her book out in the schoolyard. She thought about running out to get it but if she couldn't get back into the building she would be in trouble, on top of having to explain why she had had a book with her during recess.

But when she got back to the classroom _Matilda_ was sitting on top of her desk. She saw movement in the corner of her eye and saw that Loki was standing outside the classroom door. He put a finger to her lips to tell her to stay quiet. She gave him a thankful smile and waved at him before he disappeared in a golden light.

"Nina, who are you waving at?" Mr. Mills asked her. Her teacher and all the other students in the class were now looking at her. Nina quickly put down her hand.

"No one Mr. Mills." Nina said. The students in the class chuckled and twittered.

"Then please pay attention now, recess is over."

"Yessir." She replied, but she smiled as she looked down at _Matilda_. Nina was _unique_ and it didn't feel like too much of a bad thing.


	3. Chapter 3

Loki ch. 3

Nina sighed, swinging back and forth on her childhood swing in her backyard. She supposed that the night could have been worse, actually for the most part it had been quite fun, but that didn't make her feel much better right now.

She had hoped that prom would give her a fairy tale moment, that everything would fall into place in the perfection of the night. Now she saw how naïve that was, as she sat swinging still in her prom dress, her makeup running, and her shoes off. She let her feet play in the dirt and grass, enjoying one of the first warm nights of the year. It made her glad that prom happened late in her school's school year.

The night had started out fine. Her hair had stayed in its original beautiful soft curls style that her mother had made, its gold catching the light. She had kept stains from appearing on her dress, which had been a feat, considering it was a floor length white dress with flecks of gold. Her date, James, had arrived on time and her father had _not_ embarrassed her, at least not too badly. The limo had picked them up on time, their friends already all being in it.

The prom itself had been fun as well, at least in the beginning. She and her nine other friends had had a fantastic time dancing and laughing. It was when she and James had gone back to their groups table that there had been a problem.

"You look great tonight." James had said smiling at Nina. Nina smiled back sitting down, giving her heeled feet a break.

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself." Nina said.

"Tonight has been great. Refill?" James asked holding out a pitcher of water. He was still standing taking great gulps of water. Nina nodded. Then, as usual, her mouth said what she thought without her complete consent.

"You know…we could have more nights like this." Nina said, instantly wanting to give herself a face palm.

"More nights like what?" James asked.

"Y'know, you and me, having fun together, going _out_." Nina said, nervously biting her lip. James got a strange look on his face then sat down in front of Nina.

"Nina, you're a really cool girl, and I like you, but are you sure you're _ready_ for a relationship?" James asked.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Are you still seeing a therapist?" Nina wanted to roll her eyes.

"James, plenty of people see therapists. And you know me, you _know_ I'm not crazy." James paused before speaking again.

"You still believe in him don't you Nina?" James asked. Nina blinked several times, looking at the floor before looking up at him again.

"James, people have supernatural experiences all the time."

"I know that Nina. Heck maybe this guy Loki even exists! Whether or not that is the case, how can compete with a prince that came out of the sky? How can I possibly hope to be as good as him?" James said looking Nina in the eye.

And Nina realized that he was right, as much as it stung to admit. James couldn't live up to her expectations now that she had met Loki. She never expected anything to happen between her and Loki, he was a prince from another world after all, but anyone who wasn't as good as him…wasn't good enough.

The rest of the evening had been fun, but not nearly as fun as the beginning. James had still stayed the perfect gentleman, and had assured her that he had wanted to stay friends, but it still stung. She felt like she was back in grade school when everyone tossed her out because they thought she was crazy. She thought that that had all been in the past but apparently some things still stuck to her.

So, now Nina sat gloomily on her swingset kicking the dirt. Her parents had known to leave her alone after she came back from the prom early and they had headed to bed after she assured them that she was fine. Nina had proven to them over the years that she preferred to work through her issues alone.

"My my how lovely _you_ look tonight." Nina heard a voice say behind her. Immediately she was on her feet whipping around.

Loki, back again. As much as she wanted to be mad at him, he was the bastard who had warped her expectations of men after all, no anger bubbled up. There was nothing but the sadness that she felt from Prom. So she made no protests when he sat down in the swing next to hers.

"Why is it that whenever I see you you are either in trouble, crying, or both?" Loki asked. Nina smirked.

"We really must stop meeting like this." Nina said. It was then Loki's turn to smirk.

"Tell me, what's troubling you?" Loki asked.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Be my guest." Loki said, opening his arms in an honest gesture.

"Why do you care?"

"Well I must keep the alliance between our two great kingdoms strong." Loki said and Nina laughed.

"It's been a long time since I've been a queen of any kingdom."

"Tell me now, what's troubling you."

"Just…boys. Prom ton-"

"Wait, Prom?" Loki interrupted.

"Oh, it's an Earth tradition, it's kind of what you would call a ball. In the last two years of mandatory schooling students go to a…ball I guess you could call it. It's to sort-of celebrate our accomplishments."

"Ah, and you usually take a suitor with you I am guessing?" Loki asked.

"Yeah, and my date…well I admitted that I liked him and…it didn't go well."

"Well, should you not like him? He is the young man you chose to go along with you is he not?"

"It's never that simple unfortunately."

"So, you admitted your affections, and then…? Loki said, putting his elbows on his knees and looking over at her.

"He said…I have too high of expectations." Nina said. It was true after all. "But what are you doing here?" Nina asked. But Loki seemed interested in something else, hiding against her treehouse attached to the swingset. Before Nina had the chance to stop him, Loki was up and had grabbed the bottle of wine Nina had hidden, along with the corkscrew.

Nina parents were pretty liberal about drinking, as long as she didn't share with her friends or get drunk they really didn't mind. But she doubted they would be okay with her drinking a whole bottle by herself in the backyard. She wasn't even sure if she was really going to drink it.

"It appears that you were prepared for guests tonight." Loki said, holding up the bottle of chardonnay to read the label.

"Hey, give that _back_." Nina said, reaching for it. But Loki only stepped back further into her backyard.

"You are in need of this tonight," Loki said, holding up the wine, "and companionship. Come."

Loki was wearing his Earth outfit today, black slacks, black long jacket with a blazer underneath, and a dark green shirt. He laid out the trenchcoat he had been wearing on the grass. He then magicked two wine glasses and poured wine into each of them, setting them on each side of the glasses. He sat down, stretching his legs out before him.

"Come, I want to show you something." Loki said, bringing the wine glass to his lips. He saw the apprehensive look on her face.

"Come now, you're not afraid of me now are you? After all these years and just now you've lost your courage?" Loki teased. Nina jutted out her jaw, hitched up the skirt of her dress and walked over to him. She tried to keep as much of the dress as she could off the ground as she sat down. She took a sip of wine and looked up at the stars.

And then, Nina did perhaps the strangest thing she could have done at that moment. She laughed. It started as a giggle, and then it turned into a full outright peal of laughter, as loud and as boisterous as usual.

"You cannot be intoxicated already." Loki said, taking another sniff of his wine. Nina tried to contain her giggles.

"No, it's not that, I'm more laughing at the craziness of the situation."

"Explain."

"I'm sitting outside in my prom dress drinking wine with a demi-god. You can't tell me that's not a little strange. At least for my planet."

"I suppose that might be true. I however could tell you many stories much more foolish to your ears. Here, join me." Loki said and he laid down on the ground, staring up at the stars. Nina did the same and Loki started pointing at the stars.

"You see that star there? That is where my brother Thor and I-"

"Wait, you have a brother?" Nina interrupted.

"Yes, and you'll get a taste for what he is like from this story. That realm is where Thor and I would track and hunt bilgesnipe that had started taking children from their homes to eat."

"That's horrible!"

"Indeed. One night, when we had a particularly good day of hunting the bilgesnipe we had a great feast in the Great Hall of Asgard. My brother became particularly intoxicated and rode into the great hall on his _horse_."

"Well, people have done worse things drunk…"

"He was undraped." Loki said, and at that both Nina and Loki erupted into hysterical laughter, taking sips of their wine to calm their giggles.

And then, Loki went into more stories, telling about Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, Thor, and his mother and father.

"I wish that I had a sibling, it would have been nice to have someone to play with." Nina said, looking at the stars, "what is your brother like?"

"He's brave, but reckless, handsome but vain, loyal but unreliable, confident but arrogant."

"Wow, that's…honest."

"Should I not be honest about my own brother?"

"No no no, it's not that, it's just that older people usually sing praises about their siblings. What does your brother do anyway?"

"He commands lightning, and uses that power as an advantage for being a warrior."

"Tell me about feasts at the great hall. I love to watch people dance…" Nina said, trailing off into a daydream.

"I can do one better, I am guessing you did not have a good dance with your suitor so," Loki said, standing up and holding out his hand to her, "I shall give you one." Immediately Nina had a million excuses run through her mind. She put down the wine glass she had put to her lips and made a crossing gesture with her arms.

"Ah, no no no no no…I have two left feet. You would not want to dance with me. It was bad enough earlier tonight." Nina said. But Loki wasn't having any of it, he grabbed one of her hands by the wrist and, gently as he could, pulled her to her feet. Nina was surprised by how strong he was.

"It's all in the lead," Loki said, putting one hand on her waist and holding the other in a waltz style, "Now just relax, and do not panic."

"Why would I panic, we're ju-" Nina said before her jaw dropped. In a glimmering golden sheen of light a great hall appeared before her, and she was dancing with Loki in the middle of it. Golden pillars rose up to the amazingly high ceiling, and Asgardians danced around her.

"Now, see that young man over there? The one with the blonde hair and red cape?" Loki asked, Nina nodded, looking in the direction that Loki was gesturing with his head towards. She did see who she assumed was Thor with a large crowd of people around him. He chugged an enormous tankard of ale before throwing it on the ground yelling "another!" to the cheers of his audience.

"Your brother Thor?"

"Yes."

"Well, at least he's wearing clothes." Nina said, Loki laughed.

"Now see that older couple over by the throne?" Loki asked and once again Nina nodded. She saw an older gentleman with an eyepatch, white beard, and white hair, and a woman next to him with curly golden hair and kind eyes. The woman waved at Loki and Loki nodded back.

"That is my Mother Frigga Queen of Asgard, and my Father Odin, King of Asgard."

"Can they see us?"

"No, we are only in a memory, an illusion of mine. These are things that have already happened. I believe that this was the feast that we had to celebrate the defeat of the fire demons on Muspelheim."

"This is incredible." Nina said honestly. Loki chuckled.

"I am glad that you enjoyed it." Loki said, and the scene dimmed back to her backyard. Nina frowned.

"You have to go don't you?" Nina sighed. Loki gave her a small smile.

"Indeed I do."

"Will you be back?"

"I have every intention to come back." Loki said, and, kneeling took her hand and gave her knuckles a kiss. Nina smiled.

"Goodbye my dear." Loki said disappearing.


	4. Chapter 4

Woah guys! It's been great to have such nice feedback! Especially since this is my first published fanfic! Please keep reviewing, good or bad, and sorry for the lack of Loki in this chapter, but I promise I'll make it up to you in the next one! ;)

Nina started clearing the tables in the banquet hall, doing her best to keep her gold hair out of her eyes. She had picked up an excellent job working for a catering company, and she was doing her very best to prove that she was capable of working for them, considering how well they paid. It was a challenge keeping her clutziness to a minimum however, especially when she was carrying five wine glasses at a time.

The party was beautiful, a wedding overlooking the skyline of her town. The people at the wedding were happy and nice, and none of the men had tried to cop a feel at least so far, the night was still young. She had no idea what could possibly be so attractive about a tuxedo shirt and black slacks, but apparently some guys still liked it.

She was surprised when she saw a group of guys come into the banquet hall, all in uniform suits. The men seemed to set up a perimeter around the room, and when she turned her head, she saw that there were even more outside. The party was in full swing at this point however, and she was relieved to see that none of the partygoers, especially the bride, seemed to notice what was going on. _Who at this shindig is this much of a bigshot_? Nina thought to herself, the banquet hall as expensive to rent sure, but who needs a security detail in this town?

She saw her boss go up to one of the men and angrily try to start a dispute. However, the other man seemed almost overly calm, with an understanding look on his face and a small smile. He asked her boss something and then her boss rubbed his head and looked in her direction, pointing to Nina. The other man motioned to his men towards her.

Nina didn't even know what to do, she felt like a cat being pushed into a corner. She tried to back away, but only ended up backing into a table, and the men surrounded her.

"Come with us please." One of them said as she was grabbed by the elbows. Nina tried to wriggle out of their grip.

"Get the hell off of me! Just who the hell do you guys think you are?!"

"Please do not make a scene Ms. Fischer." A man said, coming through his crowd of guards. Her boss came as well.

"It's you people who're making the scene." Nina said, still struggling.

"Ms. Fischer, I'm Agent Coulson of Shield, I'd like to ask you a few questions." The man said, pulling out a government badge.

"What could you possibly have to ask me? And why do you need government goons to ask these questions?" Nina said, still struggling.

"Nina, _please_ just go along with them." Her boss said, looking around at the partygoers. Nina now saw that people were starting to look concernedly in their direction, including the bride.

"Alright, alright, I'll go." Nina said. Immediately, the two men let go of her arms. She didn't want to lose her job because a party didn't go as planned.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Fischer." Coulson said.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Nina said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

"Look, could you people please take this _elsewhere_?" Her boss asked.

"Of course." Coulson said. Hands once again gripped her shoulders and pushed her towards the exit. She couldn't even grab her purse.

They took her to a large SUV and they drove her to an office building about five minutes away. They led her inside the building and took her to a table, where Coulson sat across from her.

"I am gonna be red hot iron angry if I lost my job because of you buffoons." Nina said, rubbing her arms. The AC was over-the-top in the building.

"I assure you you will not lose your job Ms. Fischer. You will be compensated for the trouble tonight." Coulson said, calm as ever.

"What's Shield anyway?"

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division."

"I can see why it's called S.H.I.E.L.D. now." Nina said, leaning back in the chair and crossing her arms.

"What I want to talk about is you," Coulson said, as someone handed him a file. He opened it in front of her, and she was horrified by what she saw.

Where did you get these?" Nina asked, holding up one of them. It was a drawing of Loki that she had done as a child. And there were dozens of them, spread out over the table, along with copies of her _diary entries_ of the time.

"We have our ways of hearing about people such as yourself Ms. Fischer."

"Then you'll know that everyone thinks of me as a psycho."

"I don't think that you are a psycho Ms. Fischer." Someone else came up behind Coulson and handed him another file. "In fact, I think that you may be able to help us." Coulson said as he opened the file. What this file was filled with was pictures of Thor. Nina did her best to keep her face blank.

"Do you know who this man is?" Coulson said, laying a picture of Thor in front of Nina. Nina shook her head.

"Never seen him in my life."

"This is Thor, he's from the planet Asgard."

"What sector of the government are you again? The last I heard the government trys to deny stuff like this." Nina said, poking the picture of Thor with her index finger.

"We were hoping that you could tell us more about his brother, Loki."

"Never met him."

"You certainly tried to convince your friends and family the opposite."

"And my therapist." Nina replied, "I was put in therapy for years for a reason. Look, _I don't know him_ okay? It was some stupid stunt I put up to try to get attention. Evidently it brought the wrong sort." Nina said, looking pointedly at Coulson and his crew.

"And that day when you were at the creek? A beam of light came down and you said a 'Prince Loki' helped you." Coulson said reading directly from a copy of her childhood diary. Nina looked away when Coulson looked at her.

"I've got nothin' for ya'." Nina said shaking her head.

"We believe Loki created some trouble in New Mexico, particularly for his brother Thor. We want to ensure he's non-hostile."

"Maybe you should ask Thor that."

"He's off planet at the moment. We've got our best people currently looking for his exact location."

"Well, good luck til' you find him." Nina said, getting out of the chair, "and this has been _fascinating_ but I have to get back to work, and I'm pretty sure that I don't have to stay here, according to my constitutional rights. I don't suppose one of you could give me a ride, considering you all pulled me away from my car."

"Your car is at your home Ms. Fischer. My agents would be happy to take you home. But," Coulson said, getting up and pulling a card out of his jacket pocket, "if anything comes back to you, don't hesitate to call me. And don't worry about getting back to work, we've already got it taken care of." Nina took the card and nodded, sliding it into her back pocket.

As the agents drove her back to her house, Nina thought about what Coulson had told her. That Loki may have caused some trouble in New Mexico, that he may be hostile. It all seemed so preposterous to her, Loki had always seemed like the gentlemanly sort to herself.

She didn't regret not telling them anything though either. Loki had only ever helped her; if he had wanted to make contact with S.H.I.E.L.D he would have done it a long time ago. Nina sat and wondered where he was now, and hoped that they were wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

Loki fanfic ch. 4

Nina curled up on the couch with a book in her hand and a tea on the table, feeling content. The weather outside had turned abysmal suddenly, snow and ice everywhere, even though it was a November night in the Midwest. This was the weather, however, that Nina loved the most. She loved to watch the snow fall outside and then turn back to her book every now and then. She snuggled deeper underneath the mountain of blankets she had piled for herself and smiled. She even had her favorite pizza hot and ready in front of her for dinner. Plus, her parents were gone for the week. She had the house to herself. As a first-year college student on break, this time was pure gold to her. She took slices of her favorite pizza, pineapple and bacon, and smiled as she ate slice after slice of her pizza and read her book.

She hadn't realized she had fallen asleep until she saw a light come through her eyelids. She knew that it was just from one of the cars passing her house outside, but she wished it hadn't woken her up. She stretched and yawned, the book falling off her lap and onto the floor. She looked at the pizza box with contempt. She would have to take it outside to the trashcans, as it was too large to fit in the trashcans in the house. Uugh. If there was one thing she didn't like about the snow, it was going out _into_ it.

She put on boots and an extra sweater and headed out into the snow and ice, pizza box in hand. It was still pouring down snow and Nina stood transfixed by the snowflakes for a moment before heading towards her family's garage.

She saw something in the snow that made her pause, however. A pair of bootprints headed into the side door of the garage. The electronic lock on the door also looked like it had been _blasted_ off.

Most people would have turned around, gone back into the house, and locked the doors before calling the police. Nina, however, had already been called a crazy and a psycho plenty of times and did not want to call the police if this was just a false alarm. It would only add fuel to the fire. Who knew, maybe her Dad had walked to the garage right before he left and the lock had short-circuited. So, she dropped the pizza box on the stairs leading back to her house, grabbed a light shovel with a metal end, and pulled open the door to the garage. When she didn't hear any sound on the other side, and didn't see anyone come running out of the door, she stepped quietly inside and turned on the light, swiftly pulling her shovel back into swinging position.

Loki. Ninas eyes widened as she saw him leaning against a corner of her garage. He was obviously unconscious, and paler than Nina had ever seen him. He looked even thinner than usual, with sharper cheekbones and dark circles under his eyes.

Nina immediately dropped the shovel and ran over to him putting her hands on both of his cheeks. He was cold as ice.

"Loki, what's wrong, oh my God…" Nina said. He was wearing his Asgardian armor, but there were four long gashes from the bottom of his chest to the bottom of his stomach. She felt a strong pulse when she put two fingers to the side of his neck. Nina was even more relieved when she looked closer at the wounds and saw that they were too shallow to be life threatening, and that he responded with moans when she pulled at his armor to look as best she could underneath.

Nina ran back into the house and fetched blankets, a pillow, and her phone. Loki was too heavy for her to carry into the house herself, so for now this would have to do until she got help. Nina then went back to the garage, covered him up with the blankets, put the pillow behind his head, and pulled out her phone.

"James?" Nina said into the phone.

"Nina? What's up girl?" James asked. He was obviously at a party. Nina nearly groaned. She prayed to God he wasn't drunk.

"I need your help, can you get over to my house as soon as possible?" Nina asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Just get over here and I'll explain everything. _Please_ tell me you can. Oh, and just come to the back, to the garage."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." James promised. Nina hung up and then went back to assessing Loki. She was too afraid to take off his armor until he got into the house. She didn't want him to get hypothermia, if that was even _possible_ for Asgardians.

It felt like forever for James to arrive, but arrive he did and he came sprinting into the garage.

"What's wrong, I came as-Holy hell, is that _Loki_?" James said, looking at Loki. Nina gave him a look.

"No it's freaking Santa Claus. _Of course_ its Loki, and I need help getting him into the house," Nina said, "he's injured."

"He's a _God_, do gods get injured?"

"Apparently, hurry up and help me carry him inside."

"You want him in your house?" James asked incredulously.

"He's only ever helped me. Now hurry up and grab his feet." Nina said, pushing Loki a bit forward from the corner so that she could get behind him. She looped her arms under Loki's shoulders, and James grabbed his boots. Nina pulled Loki up and did her best to have his head lean against her stomach.

With much huffing and puffing, James and Nina managed to get Loki into the house and up the stairs into her room. She never knew how they managed to do that.

James, however, seemed less than thrilled with Loki being on Nina's bed. He paced back and forth while Nina started unbuckling the straps on Loki's boots and pulled them off. James didn't lose his temper until she started unbuckling his armor.

"What're you doing?" James asked incredulously. Nina looked back at him, her eyebrows furrowed.

"What does it look like I'm doing? He's injured and I've got to bandage him up." Nina replied, getting back to work.

"You don't have to do that, you've done enough for him." Nina bit her tongue and then looked back at James.

"Look James, I really do not have the time right now to deal with your jealousy so if you're not going to help then either sit quietly or leave."

"Please do the latter, there is nothing worse than the sound of a defeated boy in love." Loki said with his eyes closed. Nina wouldn't have cared if he had insulted _her_, she was just glad he was at least somewhat conscious, even if he didn't bother to open his eyes.

"You're gonna let him say that? After what I did for him?" James said, pointing at Loki.

"James, I promise I will make this all up to you. _Please_ just go back to the party." Nina begged.

"I'm not staying in the room with him, but I'm not leaving the house either. I'll be downstairs on the couch watching TV. Come downstairs when you're done with him, or if _you_ need help." James said looking at Nina. He stalked off down the stairs and Nina heard the TV turn on a moment later.

"That was the suitor from two years ago?" Loki asked, his dark circled eyes looking at hers as she pulled off his armor. She tried to take off his undershirt but to no avail. Luckily she had been able to undo the front part of the armor without any effort from Loki, but the undershirt was a different matter.

"Yup, James. How did you know? I didn't tell you his name." Nina said, struggling to get Loki to move the tiniest bit. "Look, I've gotta take off this shirt to bandage you up, mind giving me a bit of help?"

"It was a suspicion, nothing more," Loki said and put a hand on her arm, "and they will heal on their own."

"Maybe I just don't want you bleeding all over my bed. Now c'mon, let me help you. I did just carry you out of the cold and into my bed. My roof, my rules." Nina said. Loki complied and together they managed to pull his shirt off, with much grunting and groaning on Loki's part. Nina then began to bandage Loki up.

"Loki, what _happened_ to you?" Nina asked as she looked at the gashes. They weren't life threatening, but they looked painful and like they had been inflicted by an _animal_.

Instantly Loki's demeanor changed, his eyes hardened and he looked at her angrily.

"Do not ask such things of a _king_." Loki replied.

"Woah, you're king of Asgard now?" Nina said trying to be unperturbed by his change in attitude.

"I was, until it was taken from me."

"By who?"

"Thor. He took my crown and banished me from our world."

"So…he did this to you? Beat you up? He didn't really look the type to beat up his own brother." Nin said as she dabbed antiseptic on Loki's gashes. "Sorry if this stings a bit."

"No, these wounds were not gifted to me by my brother but by some creatures who tossed me back onto this pitiful planet….and Thor is not my brother."

"What do you mean Thor isn't your brother? And don't diss my planet, it's better to be here than floating around in space." Loki had been staring past her, talking more to himself than her, but now he looked at her again and his eyes softened for a moment.

"My apologies, please continue." Loki said gesturing towards his gashes.

"I thought that you said that it wasn't gonna help anyway." Nina said, sitting up and crossing her arms.

"I will admit to it alleviating some of the pain, and I would not want to leave any stains on your bed." Nina jutted out her jaw with a small smile shaking her head, before going back to patching him up. It was almost soothing sitting in silence like that. Even if he was a bit of a jerk sometimes, Nina hadn't realized how _comfortable_ she felt around him until that moment. She put it to rest as it being because she had known him almost her whole life. Plus, when he was around she knew she wasn't crazy. She never doubted he existed, but having the proof in front of her was remarkably calming.

She hadn't noticed he had fallen asleep until she was finished and had stopped wrapping up his wounds. She gave him a small close lipped smile and then thought about lying him down flat on the bed to be more comfortable, as he was now leaning against the headboard. But she knew that would wake him up, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days.

_On a scale of one to really _really_ creepy how bad would it be if I got under the covers next to him?_ Nina thought to herself. Then, she decided that she just didn't care. They were obviously both exhausted and she knew he wouldn't pull anything. So, she crawled under the sheets next to him and fell asleep almost immediately.

Nina woke up the next morning and stretched, wondering why she had not gotten into her pajamas before she had gone to sleep. She leapt up when she remembered what had happened the previous evening and fell out of the bed, jumping back onto her feet to look at Loki and come up with some excuse for her awful clutziness.

But then she saw he wasn't there. Once again he had evaporated into thin air, but he had left something on the bed next to where she had been sleeping. When Nina saw it, she couldn't believe how _corny_ it was. It was a necklace. Nina did actually love it; it was an orange jagged end of a crystal hanging from a gold chain. It just seemed so weirdly clandestine and corny, especially for Loki. _Although, this is the guy who saves little girls from bullies and calls them queens_, Nina thought to herself. There was also a note.

Nina,

I am leaving this in your care until I come back to retrieve it. I am trusting you.

Loki of Asgard

_Well, that makes it at least a little bit more interesting_, Nina thought to herself. However, she wasn't sure if the necklace was something that she would actually want to _wear_ around her neck. She was pretty sure it was something dangerous if it had to do with Loki.

As Nina stood examining the little crystal she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She quickly hid both the necklace and the note under her pillow, remembering James had stayed on the couch. James immediately looked at the bed and then to Nina.

"He's gone." Nina said a little sadly, "he does the disappearing thing a lot."

"You slept with him?" James asked, and Nina immediately shot him an angry look.

"I'm still wearing my clothes from yesterday, do you really think we were doing anything _other_ than sleeping?" Nina shot back.

"Alright, alright, sorry." James said quickly, putting up his hands in surrender. "Why does he keep coming back?"

"I honestly don't have a clue." Nina said back. She smiled at James. "Sorry and thanks for everything. I couldn't have helped him without you."

"Of course. Now, as a reward," James said, sidling over to her with a mischievous smile, "how about you buy me breakfast?"

"If I must." Nina said smiling and rolling her eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

Nina was sitting in the coffeeshop of her University when she first heard of it. A friend from one of her classes approached her table at the same moment she got a text from James.

"Have you heard about what happened in Germany?" Amie said. Amie was a political science major, so Nina didn't give it much thought at first.

"No what?" Nina said, looking down at her phone. James had only left two words in all caps, _CALL ME. _Nina hoped everything was okay. Amie sat down at her table, Nina tried to protest, starting to say that she had to call someone, but Amie had already started talking

"Some crazy dude attacked some fancy party in Germany! Forced everyone to kneel in front of him. Iron Man and some guy named Captain America had to fight him off." Nina grinned at the story, it was right up her alley. Maybe James could wait a few minutes.

"What was his name?"

"Dunno, they haven't released it yet. But someone got a video from it. I don't know if the guy is an alien or not but he's got some crazy technology. He changed his outfit in seconds and then multiplied himself over the crowd."

"What do you mean?"

"Here, give me your computer," Amie said, "I'll show you the video. It's not very good quality, it was taken from a camera phone, but its better than nothing."

Nina watched as Amie pulled up YouTube and showed her a video. She was right, it wasn't very good quality. But you could see a crowd of people running out of the opera house, at least the tail end of it. And then she saw someone else walk slowly up to the crowd, glitter gold for a moment, then spring a familiar pair of gold antlers and green cape.

Nina's eyebrows furrowed. There was absolutely no way it could be Loki. But a second later she had a better view of him, or a duplication of him, as he duplicated versions of him around the crowd to herd the crowd in. Nina watched as Loki, or someone who looked remarkably like Loki, forced the crowd to kneel. She then watched as an older man from the crowd stood against him and Loki took his scepter and fired at him.

Thankfully, the man called Captain America deflected the blow. Thankfully, Tony Stark's Iron Man and Captain America were enough to subdue Loki. Nina closed her computer and looked down at the table in shock. It _couldn't_ be Loki. It just _couldn't_ be.

"Hey Nina, are you okay?" Amie asked concerned when Nina didn't respond. Nina couldn't even speak for a moment. She quickly stammered a reason to excuse herself and pulled her stuff together and walked out. Nina was glad that no one at her university knew about her therapeutic past. But she was afraid of what people would think if they thought that Loki had attacked Germany and that she had a history with him.

_But it couldn't be him. He would never…_Nina thought to herself. But how much did she really know him? The last time she had seen him he had said that his brother had flung him off Asgard. What had Loki done _after_ that? Immediately she called James.

"Nina don't look at news sites-"

"I've already seen it James."

"Do you think its him?"

"I don't understand how it could be, he would nev-"

"Nina, you give the guy way to much credit."

"He's only ever helped me James."

"Have you called S.H.I.E.L.D?" James asked. Nina bit her lip. She of course couldn't keep her mouth shut and had told James all about S.H.I.E.L.D visiting her.

"I wanted to call you first." Nina replied.

"You should call them."

"You were the one who sent me the text telling me to call you!"

"I meant after this."

"No, not yet."

"Nina-"

"James he would _never_ do something like this."

"Nina this is serious! He attacked those people."

"It couldn't be him."

"If you don't tell them you'll regret it."

"What could I possibly even tell them James?! That he visited me when I was a little kid? I've got just as much information as they do right now!"

"At least you have something!"

"They'll just think I'm as crazy, like everyone else!"

"Fine. I've told you what I think, when you feel like listening to _me_ for a change call me back." Then James hung up. Nina put her phone back into her backpack and sighed. She felt bad for upsetting James, but Loki would never do something like this.

She had to be right.

The next time she heard something, she was in class. Everyone in the class started receiving texts at the same moment, including the professor. They all said things like:

"Look at the news"

"OMG New York"

"Alien Invasion"

So, her professor pulled down the projector screen and turned on the projector. He then went to the computer at the front of the classroom and went to CNN. Nina's heart pounded.

The screen was filled with a live stream of aliens coming out of the sky in New York City. Nina couldn't believe her eyes, hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of aliens filled the screen. The live stream kept cutting off to different peoples cell phone video captures of the action happening in New York. Nina saw Iron Man, a giant green monster, Captain America, and two characters dressed all in black, one red-haired woman shooting with two guns, and another man who had a bow and arrow, fighting against the aliens. Finally, Nina saw Thor. He was on top of Stark Tower, and Nina's heart stopped when she saw whom he was fighting.

It was Loki. Loki and Thor were fighting against each other. It was taken from someone's cell phone on another building opposite Stark Tower, but it couldn't have been plainer. Nina watched as Loki stabbed his brother with a small blade and then after another scuffle with Thor rolled off Stark Tower and onto an alien ship. The video then skipped over to Captain America helping some people somewhere else.

Nina's eyes went down to her desk. Her hands turned into fists and tears filled her eyes. She looked back up onto the screen, and saw that a newscaster was now making the connection between the attack in Germany and the alien attack today. Both had been done by Loki. Loki had killed dozens, maybe even hundreds of people the newscaster was saying.

Nina couldn't watch anymore. She stuffed everything she had had on her desk back into her backpack and left the room. Nina ignored the protestations of her professor and took off running, getting out of the classroom, into the hall, and then out of the school building.

The cool fresh air felt marvelous on her lungs, but it didn't stop the pain in her heart and mind. She went to a quiet corner of the campus, with fresh air, green trees, and benches and thought.

Loki had helped her, had been kind to her, had told her wonderful stories of worlds far beyond her reach. He had told her that she was special, that she was _important_, things she had desperately needed to hear at the time. And _she_ had _helped_ him. Her hands now felt dirty at the thought. She should have listened to James, she should have called S.H.I.E.L.D the moment he had arrived, she should have realized that something was wrong with Loki the last time she had seen him.

Angry tears went down Nina's cheeks. Loki had betrayed her. Had everything he had told her been a lie?

And now, she knew she had lost James for good. He had always warned her about Loki, telling her that she should call S.H.I.E.L.D. And now, she saw that he was right. Nina pulled her phone out of her backpack, wondering what she should do now. Her parents had already called seven times she saw now on the phones screen. James hadn't called at all. The thought behind his actions were clear; _I told you so._

Nina was lost, and the one person she had once counted on to buoy her was even more lost than she.


	7. Chapter 7

Loki fanfic ch 7

"Where did you first meet him?" Director Fury asked Nina as they sat across from each other in the interrogation room. A few days after the attack on New York, Nina had been arrested. S.H.I.E.L.D had barged into her dorm room, much to the confusion of her roommate, and had grabbed and practically dragged Nina off. They hadn't handcuffed her thankfully, but there were enough men wearing suits and government SUV's around her dorm that her University must have known she had done _something_.

_Great, _great, Nina thought to herself. As if Loki's betrayal hadn't been bad enough, now her entire University knew that she was somehow involved with New York's catastrophe. Except that she _wasn't_, not really. It wasn't her fault that she knew Loki, _he_ was the one who had appeared to her in the creek that day.

S.H.I.E.L.D had driven her to what looked to be an abandoned warehouse and taken her inside. She was taken to an interrogation room straight out of a cop show, with a mirror window, a table, and two chairs across from one another. And she waited. And waited. And _waited_. After what seemed like an eternity, Director Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D had swept into the room and introduced himself. Then the interrogation began.

"Ms. Fischer, please do not make this more difficult than it needs to be." Director Fury said. Nina had to admit, Fury intimidated her. To his black eye patch with the strange scars around it, to his tall stance and long black coat, Nina felt tiny compared to him, and she crossed her arms and avoided looking at him. It made her look like a petulant child she knew, but Nina trusted S.H.I.E.L.D. about as much as she trusted Loki.

Fury opened up a briefcase, and once again Nina's childhood was laid out before her. Now that S.H.I.E.L.D had seen Loki with their own eyes, Nina could see why they had come back to see her. Her drawings as a child were dead-on copies of Loki, and the older she had gotten the clearer they had become. Still, Nina locked on Fury with a full on glare once she had mustered up enough courage to even look at him.

"You stuck me here without telling me what was going on and had me sit in here for hours. Excuse me if I'm not very verbose." Nina said.

"Well, if you would tell us what you know we could spring you." When Nina didn't say anything, Fury got up and out of the chair, circling around the table. As much as Nina hated to admit it to herself, Fury's intimidation bit was working.

"Let me make this very clear to you Ms. Fischer. S.H.I.E.L.D is the type of organization that can make your life become a lot better, or become a whole hell of a lot worse. So, I would _advise_ you come clean about your boyfriend." Fury said, putting his hands down on the table and leaning towards her.

"Loki is _not_ my boyfriend." Nina said almost laughing. Then she cursed him for saying anything at all.

"But you know him?" Fury said, pulling out his chair again and sitting down.

"You can't prove anything." Nina said. Fury didn't say anything, just laid out one of her drawings next to a photograph taken of Loki. Loki was battered and beaten, with something like a muzzle covering his mouth, but there was no doubt that her drawings and Loki in the picture were the same person.

"We have a kid named William Lanniston who has come forward. He was a classmate of yours wasn't he? Said that he met you and Loki in the schoolyard. He also said Loki didn't play nice." _Damn Will_, Nina thought. She put her eyes back down didn't move, looking at her lap. Fury leaned his head forward and tried to look Nina in the eyes.

"A lot of members of this team disagree with me, but I don't think that you had anything to do with what happened in New York over the past week." Fury said, then Nina looked up at him fully.

"I _didn't_." Nina said incredulously.

"Then prove it," Fury said, poking the drawings, "tell us how you know Loki." Nina looked down at the table, at all the drawings of Loki that she had done and the diary entries about Loki she had written.

"I met him first when I was eight, I was playing in a creek bed near my neighborhood and he came down from the sky."

"And what did he do?"

"Nothing, besides help me out a little bit and help me find my parents. He disappeared after that."

"And the next time?"

"I was eleven, Will was a kid who bullied me in school. Loki stopped him, scared him off."

"Did Loki ever say why he did any of this stuff?" Fury asked, Nina shook her head. But then she thought of something.

The necklace. The one Loki had given her and asked her to guard. Nina hadn't thought about that necklace since she had hidden it away after Loki had showed up the last time. She could only pray to God that S.H.I.E.L.D hadn't found it yet. Whatever it was that Loki had wanted her to guard she knew that she didn't want S.H.I.E.L.D to find either.

_It must be something connected to that cave I told him about_, Nina thought to herself, thinking about when she had told him about the vault near the creek.

"No he never told me why he helped me," Nina said, looking up at Fury and lying as best she could, "I guess he just liked to be the celebrated hero for once."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Loki told me about his brother Thor. It sounded like Thor stole a lot of Loki's thunder, no pun intended." Nina said.

"When did Loki tell you about Thor?"

"The last time he visited. Two years ago, after my senior prom." Nina said, "I haven't seen him since." Nina finished, looking up at Fury. It was strange how much more confident Nina felt when she was lying.

She wasn't going to tell Fury about when Loki came to her garage bloodied. The only problem was James now. If James hadn't told S.H.I.E.L.D about Loki yet, Nina doubted he would do it now.

Nina could tell that Fury didn't believe her, not completely. But she gave him a look that said that was all she had. Fury put a finger to his ear; Nina assumed he had an earpiece as his attention shifted as well.

"I'll be back in a few minutes. Wait here."

"Where else can I _go_?" Nina asked incredulously, putting her hands out in front of her. Fury gave her a look before he left the room. Nina sighed and crossed her arms again, expecting another long wait.

But a few minutes later, a woman came into the room. Nina recognized her from the videos of what had happened in New York. She had bright red hair curly hair cut just below her ears and a sharp shrewd look. Instead of the tight jumpsuit she had worn the day of the New York attack, she was now sporting a red shirt, black blazer and black slacks.

"You're a member of the Avengers right?" Nina asked, now interested.

"Indeed I am," The woman said with a small tilt of her head and a close lipped smile, "I'm Natasha Romanoff."

"Does Fury think that I'll suddenly have more information because I'm talking to a girl?"

"No, I did." Romanoff said. Nina lifted an eyebrow.

"Why're you so interested?"

"Loki killed one of our very best." Romanoff said. Nina sat quietly at that.

"I'm sorry, did I know him?"

"It was Agent Coulson." Romanoff said. Nina's face fell, Coulson had seemed like a nice guy.

"I'm sorry to hear it."

"Loki also brainwashed a few agents, and some scientists. He wanted to gain control of something called the Tesseract. Did he tell you anything about it?" Romanoff said. Nina shook her head.

"No, this is the first I've heard of it." Nina said honestly this time. "Is that how he got the aliens into New York?"

"Yes." Romanoff said, with her monotone voice. After looking at Nina's drawings of Loki on the table she looked back up to look at Nina.

"I know what it's like for someone to give you chance, for someone to say that you are worth more and can do more. But you shouldn't depend on Loki. He's a maniac, he's killed hundreds of people. Coming from someone who's had a conversation with him recently, I'm advising you to steer clear." Romanoff said, looking Nina in the eye. Nina looked at the drawings again, jutting out her jaw, before looking at Romanoff.

"You're a secret agent right?"

"I guess you could call it that." Romanoff conceded.

"So I'm guessing you've got a bloody history." Nina said. Romanoff rolled her lips shut before answering.

"Yes."

"And I'm guessing someone gave _you_ a second chance." Nina said. Nina could tell Romanov was becoming uncomfortable, she paused before answering.

"Yes."

"But you expect me to completely turn my back on someone who has only _helped_ me?" Nina said, lifting an eyebrow and leaning forward.

"We're the good guys."

"No, you're the people who arrested me twice now. Both of those times it was in front of other people and caused a scene. You could have done it differently, made it private. Instead you chose to try and intimidate and scare me. Now when I get back on campus everyone's going to want to know what's going on with me. Since I can't tell them the truth, they're going to assume that it's something bad. _You_ are the people who went through my personal possessions and past medical records instead of just _asking_ me in person. I am not saying that I'll welcome Loki with open arms if I ever see him on Earth again, but I am _also_ saying that I won't call S.H.I.E.L.D either if it happens." Nina said leaning back in the chair. When Romanoff sat in silence, Nina finished. "So, now you know where I stand and I've told you everything I could. I would like to get back to my University now." Nina said, crossing her arms. Romanoff gave her a stern look, which Nina returned, before standing up. She left a card in front of Nina.

"Keep in mind, Loki is crazy, and S.H.I.E.L.D _will_ defend you. If you ever need anything give me a call, and if you ever want to learn about what this life is like, give me a call too. You wouldn't be bad on our team." Nina crinkled her eyebrows at the last part, but took the card, sticking it in the back pocket of her jeans. Nina decided that she liked Romanoff, even if she didn't necessarily like the organization that she worked for.

They took her back to campus over an hour later, after letting her sit in the room for a while more. They seemed to have listened to what Nina had to say, since there was only one car taking her back to her University as opposed to the half a dozen that had been there to pick her up for "backup".

_S.H.I.E.L.D needs better training if it takes almost twenty members to pick a girl up,_ Nina thought to herself. She slammed the door to the car when they dropped her off. When she got back to her room she saw she had a dozen calls from friends, three from her roommate, but none from James.

She still didn't think that James would tell S.H.I.E.L.D about meeting Loki, but she wondered whether he would trust her in general.

She also wondered how she was going to get her hands back on that necklace. She was almost sure that it had to do with that vault or cave or whatever it was back in her hometown, but even if it was did she _want_ to find out?

Nina was exhausted, betrayed, and lonely. And now, she wondered what to do next.


	8. Chapter 8

Wow guys! You have been the best! All the comments have kept me motivated. Sorry that it took me a bit longer to get this chapter up, I've been busy with school and such, and I was having trouble getting the flow of the conversation to work.

I just want to clarify, things are not going to be exactly clear in this chapter (i.e why Nina is where she is at this point in the story) but I promise it will all become relevant later. Character development ya' know?

Anyway guys, enjoy! :D

Nina finished the long trek home from work, exhausted. It was dark, but she wasn't afraid, she lived in a safe enough part of the city. The walk from work may be long, but it was better than paying for the subway, where she was stuck in a train car. Here she was out in the fresh air, or as fresh as it could be in a city.

She walked up the four flights to her tiny apartment and unlocked the door. She was surprised when her cat, Nox, was not waiting for her when she came into her apartment.

"Nox?" Nina called as she turned on the light. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw who Nox was with.

Loki was standing in her living and dining room, scratching behind Nox's ears. He was in his earth outfit, giving Nina a small knowing smile.

"You're…Nox was it? Seems to have a good taste in gentlemen." Loki said. He continued to scratch behind Nox's ears; Nox purred loudly as he laid on the top of the couch pushed against the wall, his eyes dozing as Loki scratched him just where he liked.

_Damn cat, _Nina thought to herself. She grabbed an umbrella from beside her door and held it like a bat.

"You are hardly a gentlemen." Nina said. Loki stopped petting Nox and put both hands up in the air.

"Now, what is this hostility I'm sensing?" Loki said. Nox woke back up when Loki stopped petting him, and stood up rubbing against Loki's hip. Loki put one hand down to pet Nox again, halving his attention between Nina and Nox.

"As if you don't deserve it."

"Have I done something to offend you?"

"You brought an alien species to my planet to conquer it a little over a year ago, forgive me if I am not exactly welcoming."

"Something quite mundane compared to my predecessors."

"Asgardians are defenders, look at your bro-"

"Thor is not my brother, and I am _not_ an Asgardian." Loki interrupted, picking up Nox completely then. Nina let out a huff and dropped the umbrella, going up to Loki and trying to take Nox out of his grasp.

"_Give_ him to me." Nina said looking Loki in they eye, and Loki handed her the cat. Nina gave Nox a scratch behind his ears and a kiss, before going through a doorway and laying Nox down on her bed. She then went back out to meet Loki.

"These are your new quarters?" Loki asked, looking around him. He was standing in one of the few rooms of the apartment. It had a small combined kitchen dining and living room, a bathroom, and a bedroom. The bathroom was the only room in the apartment with any privacy, the other two rooms were connected.

"Yes it is, long story. Can we cut to the chase? What are you doing here?"

"I've come for the necklace." Loki said; Nina put her hands out in front of her.

"Don't have it."

"_Don't_ tell me you handed it to those S.H.I.E.L.D buffoons." Loki said, disbelief on his face.

"No, and I'm not going to hand it over to you either." Nina said crossing her arms.

"Oh, I think you _are_." Loki said, cocking his head to the side and giving her a cunning smile.

"You told me to protect it, I'll do that even if it means protecting it from _you_."

Nina hadn't really noticed the staff that Loki had carried until it was underneath her chin. It was the same one that he had used to intimidate Will.

"I do not think you know the entire story of my heritage." Loki said, his eyes turning to slits. Nina watched as Loki's eyes turned as red as blood and his skin as blue as the sky on a sunny day.

"I am what they call a frostgiant. I am Loki Laufey-son, rightful king of Jotunheim, and I _will_ have what I desire." Loki said, as intimidatingly as possible. With every word he spoke he pushed Nina back, until she was railed up against the wall. Nina shook with fear, but she stood tall and jutted out her jaw. "Perhaps a different guise would be more persuasive." Loki said when Nina stood silent. Nina watched as in a shower of gold light James appeared before her, with his brown curly hair and warm brown eyes.

"Not him. _Never_ him." Nina said angrily, and with every ounce of courage, anger, and recklessness she pushed Loki's staff off her chin and pushed past him.

"I blame myself every day for what happened in New York, I'll be damned if I let anything like it happen again." She had tears in her eyes and she angrily wiped them away, her back to Loki.

"I never would have let them hurt you Nina." Loki said quietly. Nina turned back to look at him, and saw that his face had returned to his own Asgardian one.

"We both know that there wasn't a prayer of you being able to control that band of brutes Loki. They used your cunning to get inside our planet, but once your usefulness had ended you would have been worse off than when I found you in my garage."

"Then why did you save me?" Loki said, once again all gentleness gone, his voice like ice. Nina's eyebrows furrowed.

"I saved you because that was before you turned into an insane tyrant, you still seemed like a nice guy then."

"I don't mean here, I meant upon that rock, Vanaheim." Loki growled.

"What are you talking about?"

"You truly feign ignorance?"

"I'm not pretending I just have _no idea_ what you are talking about!" Nina said, throwing out her hands. At that, Loki started muttering to himself and pacing.

"A figment…a dream…that was all it was." Loki said to himself. Nina put her head in her hands, she felt like she should be scared, but she more just felt exasperated, and exhausted. She had had quite enough of Loki's mood swings.

"Are we done here?" Nina asked, Loki then looked back up at her. As he did, Nox came out of Nina's bedroom and rubbed against Loki's legs. Loki kneeled down to give Nox one last scratch.

"Yes, I suppose we are. Unless you have suddenly changed your mind to give me the necklace." Loki said as Nox purred loudly.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to. What made you change _your_ mind?" Nina asked.

"A change of perspective I suppose, I'll be on my way." Loki said standing up. Loki then gave Nina a bow and a cunning smile, sauntering up to her door. Nina went to where Loki had stood and picked up Nox.

"I miss the man you were, you know. He was worth saving." Nina said as Loki turned the knob.

"And what of now?" Loki said, looking back at her with a discerning look.

"I don't know, I can't see what potential you have."

"For what?"

"To be better than what you are. You can never be who you were but…I think that you could be better than that, if you wanted to. But I'm not sure if you do." Nina said, looking at him sadly. Loki didn't say anything at all, just looked at her thoughtfully for a moment and then left. Nina immediately went up to the door and locked the regular lock and the deadbolt. _Not that that would stop him,_ she then thought to herself.

Nina went into her bedroom and sat at the edge of her bed, putting Nox on her lap. The cat purred as Nina petted him slowly. Nina had found the poor black cat outside her door when he was just a kitten, shivering, wet, and hungry. He had perked right up after a bath and some tuna fish, and had been with Nina ever since, besides from a visit to the vet. Nina supposed that she had a love for lost souls, considering she was one herself. Nina rubbed her eyes exhausted and tried to put what had happened behind her. She laid back down on the bed, and Nox went up to her face, nudging her with a mrow.

"Stop it Nox." Nina said with a laugh. Her smile turned bittersweet as she realized that it was time.

It was time to face her demons.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys!

Once again, you guys's responses have been AWESOME. I really cannot thank you enough, and keep up the good work :P good bad, I want to hear it!

Sorry, no Loki in this chapter, but I PROMISE the next few chapters are going to make up for everything. And this chapter is important!

Some stuff is going to seem really similar to Thor: The Dark World, but all will be explained later so please bear with me.

Enjoy! :D

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Loki fanfic ch. 9

Nina looked out the window of the bus, seeing the familiar sights of her hometown zoom past. Her heart pounded in her chest, she hadn't wanted to come back, but it was time to lay some things to rest.

She got off the megabus and was glad to find that it was connected to the smaller regional bus station. She slung her small backpack across her shoulder and went up to the local bus map.

_If I take the twenty-four both ways I should be able to get there and back here no problem,_ Nina thought to herself. She waited, got on the local bus, and prepared for another hour-long bus ride.

Once she got on the bus she slept through half the ride, hugging her backpack to her chest, her head lolling from side to side. She had left home last night at around eleven to get back to her hometown at seven in the morning, and try as she might she hadn't gotten much sleep on the megabus. She guessed the tiredness was catching up with her.

The second half of the bus ride, she was interrupted. Through her dreams, she heard a voice she recognized, a voice that she never thought she would hear again.

It was James, James was getting on the bus and laughing with the bus driver. She tried to put her hair down in front of her face and angle her face to the window so that he wouldn't recognize her, but he saw her immediately. His eyes widened and he marched straight to her, taking the seat directly across from hers.

"Where have you been?" James demanded. Nina stayed silent, not looking him in the eye.

"Hey!" James said, shaking her knee. Nina took pushed his hand away.

"Get lost."

"That's what _you_ did."

"No kidding Sherlock."

"Are you back now?" Nina barked out a short laugh.

"Yeah, because I would be welcomed back with open arms into this community."

"We were worried about you." Nina gave James a look.

"I could really feel that when you ignored my texts and phone calls."

"…I can explain that."

"I really felt the love when I was being questioned by S.H.I.E.L.D and my best friend just _vanished_."

"I-I just…I didn't wan-"

"You were a coward and you chickened out, that's what happened." Nina finished for him, then she took a deep breath before speaking again. "And, to be honest, I don't blame you. You may have been a crappy friend but…I can see where you were coming from." There was a silence as James looked down at his feet, his elbows on his knees.

"Have you seen him?" James asked, looking back up at her.

"That depends."

"On what?"

"Who you're working for. My guess is S.H.I.E.L.D. I doubt you would join with aliens, even if they were Asgardians. And this," Nina said gesturing around her, "is far too much of a coincidence." When James looked back down at his feet, Nina jutted out her jaw.

"What was I supposed to do? They showed up at my dorm at midnight…"

"I tell you what you could have done, _nothing_. Said no."

"What do you want me to do now?"

"Tell them you didn't find me, or that you lost me." Nina said. "You've only got a couple of stops left before you have to make your decision, that's when I get off." When James didn't say anything, Nina leaned forward with a small smile.

"James, you didn't call S.H.I.E.L.D before when you thought that I should have called them. I'm just asking you to do the same thing. _Please_, I promise I won't interfere with your life again, just get off the bus, and don't look back. One last chance to be my friend again." Nina said, putting a hand on his knee. James looked up at her after a few seconds.

"I didn't think that it would have turned out this way. I always thought that you would have picked me in the end. I was an idiot in high school." James said, looking out the window with a rueful smile. Nina gave him one as well.

"I'm sorry James. I'm so sorry things turned out this way." James nodded, and when the bus stopped he got off. Nina wiped away a tear as she watched him walk away.

A few stops later, Nina got off the bus herself. Nina walked down the familiar path to the creekbed, the leaves crunching beneath her feet. She hoped that she remembered the exact spot where she had buried the necklace.

She had known that keeping the necklace at her parent's house would have been out of the question; that would have been the first place S.H.I.E.L.D looked. However, out in the woods? Not so simple to find, not even for her.

Nina went down the path, knowing she was close to the first clue. And she spotted it.

A tree with an L scratched in its trunk. She smiled in relief when she found it. The next one was fifty feet away, O. The next two were also fifty feet apart, K and I.

Underneath the I tree, Nina knelt down to the ground. She pulled away the leaves at the foot of the tree to the ground underneath. She started digging down with her hands, going down about half a foot in the mud.

Nina smiled in relief when she felt the hard top of the Tupperware underneath her fingers. She scooped it out of the mud and sat cross-legged on the ground.

_So much is different now_, Nina thought to herself. Her life may have changed but she had been the same all along. From beginning to end she had depended on no one but herself. She just hoped she could keep it that way.

_Maybe it could end today_, Nina thought again. She almost laughed at her own naiveté. Whatever she would find down there would take this from bad to worse. But she had to know; she had to get it out of the back of her head. So, she wrenched open the mud caked Tupperware and pulled out the necklace. Amazingly, it only had some dried dust in it, nothing too terrible.

For the first time, Nina put the necklace on. She knew that it was safer around her neck than in the bottom of her backpack or in her pocket. She stood up and put the Tupperware in her backpack before slinging it back onto her back. She marched down to the creekbed.

She knew that there were probably faster ways of getting to the vault, but this was the way she knew. She had traipsed down this path dozens of times when she was younger, especially after Loki had disappeared the first time. Going this way, she knew exactly where the vault was.

After a little under a mile of jumping rocks and streams, Nina went up the other side of the creekbed, on her hands and knees. She climbed the wall and then went ten paces further.

Nina knew she was there when her feet hit stone instead of dirt. She kicked away the leaves, about six feet in each direction, to reveal the door. Her heart pounded in her chest as the vault became visible.

It was covered in etched runes that she, and a hundred archeologists, couldn't read. She kneeled down on top of it, looking at it more closely.

"C'mon, let me in." Nina whispered to the stone, running her fingers over the runes. She stopped when she felt that one of the runes had been etched in deeper than the rest. Nina pulled the necklace off and then fitted it into the deeper space.

The ground moved beneath her. The door to the vault lifted up and then to the side, revealing the cave beneath. Nina stood up when the door stopped moving and then went and looked over the edge.

All she could see was black. _Not promising_, Nina thought to herself. She walked a few steps away and picked up a stone. She walked back and tossed it down into the cave. A few seconds later, she heard it hit the bottom. She dug out a rope from her backpack, and tied it to a nearby tree. She tested her weight on it, and when deemed secure, threw the rest over into the cave.

_If not for the way down, certainly for the way _up, Nina thought to herself. Nina put her feet over the side and then reached behind her, pulling out the necklace from the rune. She then put the necklace back around her neck. She didn't want it around her neck but she didn't want to leave it behind either.

In the most ungraceful fashion, Nina sidled off the edge of the entrance down into the cave, using the rope for support. She could have jumped in she realized a few moments later when her feet touched the ground, but better to have a rope than a broken ankle.

Nina pulled out a small Hello Kitty lantern from her backpack, one that she had had since she was a child. She flicked it on and fluorescent light filled the cave. Just like the cave door the cave was filled with runes lining the walls. When she looked behind her she saw only wall covered in runes, but ahead of her was a soft golden light, besides the light of the lantern.

She walked forward, finding that the source of the light was further than she had anticipated on account of the overall darkness of the cave. However, she finally reached it. It was a rectangular cube, with a soft orange glow. What fascinated Nina was that the light seemed to _move_ within the cube. It sat upon a table that went up to her chest, and Nina leaned down to look at it more closely, setting the lantern down at her feet.

_It's like there's something _alive_ inside it_, Nina thought to herself. Whatever was inside made the whole cube glow, but it moved with the combination of a sharp crackle of a fire and the soft grace of something living. Nina however, noticed something else.

Her necklace had begun to glow and move with the same light, like there was a tiny little creature inside it. Not only that, but it was slowly leaning into the stone. Nina, perhaps stupidly, took off the necklace and looked at it in the palm of her hand for a moment, before placing it on the top of the cube.

Immediately, the cube consumed the necklace, even down to the gold chain. The light from the cube glowed even brighter, and began to fill the room with warmth. Then, Nina did something even more moronic, she slowly reached her fingers out to it and touched it.

Fire raced up her arm and she jerked backwards, falling down onto her elbows. The fire continued to crawl up her arm until it faded into her skin. Nina sat for a moment in shock on the ground, trying to remember how to bring air into her lungs

Well, _that_ was weird. Nina thought to herself. She stood back up and rubbed her elbows, they felt sore but not broken.

_Now what? _Nina thought to herself as she picked up the lantern. She felt fine, but that had been weird, weirder than she had expected to find in this cave.

Nina walked out of the cave and climbed up the rope, wondering how much further down the rabbit hole she had just jumped.


	10. Chapter 10

The first weird thing that had happened was that she was able to read the runes on the cave wall.

It hadn't even been reading really, it was more like she just understood what they meant immediately inherently. They told the story of a guy called the Gardener, but Nina hadn't paid much attention at the time, she had been scared out of her mind.

And it hadn't been just the runes either, it became _every_ language. When she had gotten out of her hometown and back to the city she had understood every language being spoken on the street. It wasn't just that she translated it to English, it was that she inherently understood it. She understood every written language too, whether Spanish, Korean, French or anything else.

She had wanted to tell someone about it but who was there to tell? Loki was the only person who might have been able to help her, but she had turned him away the last time she had seen him, and there was no way to contact him.

With the Rosetta Stone in her head came mild headaches, but they got worse when the visions started.

She would be walking down the street when an image from the past or future would come out of nowhere. The edges would glow orange in the vision and Nina would see the area in front of her transported into the past, or sometimes to what she assumed to be the future. She saw women in huge gowns and men in suits, and Model T's going down the street, and then she would see cars hovering feet off the ground a few minutes later. Usually she could wave her hand in front of the image and it would disappear again, but sometimes it felt like it was sucking her in. The more visions she had as well, the worse her headaches would become.

But the worst part was the voice. Another man's voice had started to full her head. He was cruel, he would pull out bits of her childhood, bits that she had hated, and push her into them. That was when the visions were the worst because she was forced into them. She would blink and she was in the schoolyard of her grade school. She would be forced to watch the boys from her grade school ridicule and make fun of her as a small child.

"You can change it you know, change what happened." She would hear the voice say, that was when she would see the man. He was always dressed in a suit, tall with curly white hair. Even though his hair was white, he always seemed to look timeless to Nina, especially judging from his style and how his face was one of those you couldn't place just one number on. He could be twenty, or forty, she never knew.

Nina never rose to his bait though, she would close her eyes and force the vision down in her mind and a second later she was back to wherever she had been before.

But he came back in her dreams, every night. There would be a new scenario, some sort of hoop she would have to jump through, and in the morning she hardly remembered it, only remembering being terrified.

But he figured out how to beat her.

She was standing in her apartment; content for once because she had had no visions that day, and the voice hadn't bothered her once. She was making dinner, standing in front of her sink peeling potatoes, when she heard something behind her, the sound of a howling wind. She turned around and the world changed.

She was standing on a rocky, dark hillside. She looked up to see a spaceship flying up into the sky.

"Look there, Nina Fischer." The main in the suit, the voice, said pointing. Nina looked and saw Thor getting the pulp beaten out of him by a giant monster. Punch after punch after punch straight into the face. Nina grimaced, wondering where Thor's hammer was.

Until Loki appeared, stabbing the giant monster in the back with a spear. Nina wanted to cheer until the monster turned and grabbed Loki, pulling him to his own chest. The spear went through Loki's chest.

"NO!" Nina screamed. No one but the man in the suit heard her though, as he only laughed in response.

"Make your choice girl, there isn't much time left now."

"Time left for what?" Nina said halving her attention between Loki and Thor and the man in the suit. Thor had now pulled Loki into his lap. They were talking but Nina was too far away to hear the conversation.

"To change what could happen here. Without your help, your Loki of Asgard may die." The man said, standing next to her on the hill.

"He's not mine." Nina said through clenched teeth.

"Don't try to lie to me, I've been rummaging through your head for weeks now. I know he's important you." The man in the suit said as Nina watched Loki down in the valley between the hillsides. Nina knew that Loki was gone when she heard Thor's cry of anguish. Nina's breath started to come fast and tears went down her cheeks.

"So, what will you do?"

"What _can_ I do?" Nina asked.

"You can alter Loki's timeline. He doesn't have to die here. But you must choose quickly." The man said, "Your body can only take so much energy at a time."

"Who are you?" Nina demanded.

"Me? I am Time itself. You only have minutes left, and then his fate will be decided for you." The man reminded her. Nina looked down at Loki again, a million thoughts running through her head.

She remembered the conversation they had had the last time he had come to see her.

"_I miss the man you were, you know. He was worth saving." _

"_And what of now?"_

_ "I don't know, I can't see what potential you have."_

_ "For what?"_

_ "To be better than what you are. You can never be who you were but…I think that you could be better than that, if you wanted to. But I'm not sure if you do."_

And then, Nina was running down the hillside. She hadn't realized nothing on the planet was affecting her until she stepped outside her time bubble. Now the wind whipped her face, she felt the rocks beneath her feet, and she slipped and slid down the hillside to run down to Loki's side She immediately kneeled when she came up to him, almost falling on top of him. She cupped his face in her hands, her tears falling onto his face. He was cold as death, his face strangely like a stone.

"No, no, _please_ come back to me." Nina said, and she pulled Loki's head and shoulder onto her lap, sitting cross-legged. The wind and sand whipped into them both, and Nina had no idea what to do. She leaned down to put her face in the crook of his neck, hiding there.

And then warmth spread across her. She opened her eyes and saw that she was glowing orange, with the same light from the stone. It was dancing and licking across her skin, and then it moved over to Loki.

The blood that had been pooled on the rocks beneath him reversed its flow, color came back into his cheeks, and Nina put a hand to his chest.

_His heart_, Nina thought to herself. She felt it beating again, strong and fast. Nina's tears now came from joy and relief.

Slowly Loki's eyes opened again, and he coughed trying to bring air back into his lungs. It took a moment before he seemed to notice she was even there, his eyes darting around in panic.

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm here." Nina said, running a hand through his hair. Although he still looked dazed and weak, he gave her a little smile and put the tips of his fingers to her jawline.

"How?" He said softly. Nina just smiled back.

"Thank you my dear." Time said. Nina looked up to see Time standing across from her.

"For what?" Nina asked.

"You've now accepted the power into your body, and now I can use you to my advantage."

"Like hell." Nina said, her gaze hardening.

"It's not your choice anymore darling." Time said cocking his head to the side. But Nina felt power in her yet, power that was hers to control.

"Right now the power is split between us. Half-and-half, and I still control this body, meaning I have more power than you." Nina said and Time's eyes narrowed into slits. Loki had sunk back into unconsciousness. Nina felt her strength over Time dwindling by the second.

"Find me." Nina whispered into Loki's ear. Nina then gently laid Loki gently onto the ground and stood. Nina hated to leave Loki, but it was for now. _Just for now,_ Nina thought to herself.

"You're not going to win this battle, I will have that body." Time said, pointing at her.

"But you don't have it yet." Nina said, stepping over Loki to stand before Time. She felt the energy glowing and crawling across her skin. The wind whipped around them, and Nina only thought of one thing as she closed her eyes.

_ There's no place like home._

The wind stopped, the sandy air was out of her lungs, and Nina opened her eyes to see she was standing in the creek. The creek on her planet. She was _home_.

"Ms. Fisher?" Nina heard a voice say behind her. But she blacked out before she could figure out who it was, falling into the strangers arms.


	11. Chapter 11

Hi guys!

Whew this chapter took a while! Hard to fit everything in you know? But, questions are being answered, and you guys have plenty of Nina and Loki time to enjoy.

Please keep it up with the comments, good or bad I really really DO want to hear it. It means the world to me when you guys post something.

Love you all, you sexy people out there ;) enjoy the chapter!

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Loki fanfic ch 11

Nina wasn't conscious of anything for a long while, or at least it felt like a long while to her.

The first thing that entered her consciousness were a pair of strong arms carrying her. She felt so limp her eyes wouldn't even open. But she felt the motion of walking. Then she heard words.

"Heimdall, when you are ready." A deep voice said. Next came the feeling of upward motion. She supposed it must all be a dream, so she kept her eyes closed and stayed comfortable. But the motion was so _intense_; she felt her hair whip across her face and a freezing cold wind on her skin.

Then the motion stopped, and they were on solid ground again. Nina heard a voice she recognized, a voice that helped her to slowly open her eyes.

"Hand her to me." Nina heard Loki say. Nina opened her eyes and saw that it was Thor who carried her. She turned her head out and saw Loki. She gave a small smile of relief, seeing him safe meant the world to her.

"You should not have come, brother. Your guards-"

"Will not notice I have left." Loki said. Thor didn't hand Nina over to Loki until Nina reached out a weak hand to Loki.

"I'll be fine with him." Nina said to Thor. Loki strode over and plucked Nina out of Thor's arms. Nina hadn't realized how hard her heart had been beating until Loki held her. Immediately she felt calmed, relaxed even, and she put her arms around Loki's neck.

"The Allfather-" Thor started.

"May chastise me later." Loki called back as he walked away with Nina in his arms, his back to Thor.

"Where are we going?" Nina asked. She hadn't really looked around since she had spotted Loki. Now she saw that Loki was carrying her out of what looked to be a huge circular room, onto a road that glittered with the colors of a rainbow. She couldn't believe how beautiful it was. It was even more beautiful when she saw the whole world around them as they stepped outside.

"Wha-" Nina whispered in disbelief as she saw a huge golden city surrounded by stars and a blue sea.

"I'm sorry, you must be disoriented. You are now on Asgard." Loki said, looking down at her with a smile. He carried her over to a beautiful brown horse. "Do you think you have the strength to ride with me? It is only a short distance into the city."

"Yeah, of course." Nina said. She certainly didn't want Loki to have to carry her all the way into the city. He gently put her feet on the ground, keeping his hands on her waist for a moment to steady her.

"Are you alright?" Loki asked.

"Fine, yeah." Nina said. Loki then helped Nina get onto the horse, sitting behind her a moment later. Nina was grateful for him being there, she still felt weak, and leaning against him was comfortable.

Loki put the horse into a canter and they headed into the city. The cool air felt wonderful and Nina didn't even want to close her eyes for a second as she looked at the city.

"Welcome to Asgard, Queen Nina." Loki said, angling his head to the side of her face to look at her. Nina smiled back.

"I've never seen anything more beautiful," Nina murmured. Loki gave her another grin.

* * *

They arrived at what looked to be a courtyard, with a beautiful garden, fountain, and servants to help people on and off their horses. Loki refused all help, somehow even managing to swing off a horse gracefully, and then helped Nina come down to the ground.

"Do you need assistance?" Loki asked her when she stood, and Nina shook her head with an embarrassed smile.

"No thanks, I think I'm good for now." Nina said; there was a moment of silence as she just looked at him. "I'm so glad you're ok." Nina said, and tears gathered in her eyes. She still felt weak at the knees and emotional at everything that had happened and she _hated_ it. All she could see in her mind was Loki stone cold and dead.

"Come, let's get you inside, I shudder to think what everyone would say if I made you cry upon first arriving." Loki said. Nina laughed and wiped away her tears.

"That's better, now shall we my Queen Nina?" Loki said, holding his arm for her to take. Nina nodded and looped her arm through his and they headed into the palace.

Nina had never been anywhere more impressive in her life, or more intimidating. The main hall was filled with huge gold pillars and a sea green floor. The people were even more intimidating, and beautiful. They wore elegant gowns, and Nina could practically feel the intelligent conversation happening around her. However, whenever the people spotted Loki, and herself on Loki's arm, the conversation stopped and turned into surprised whispers. Nina looked down at the floor.

"Do not let them intimidate you," Loki said, "We are far more impressive than any of them." Nina stifled a laugh.

As they were walking Nina noticed that Thor had caught up with them and was now walking alongside Loki as well.

"Where are you taking her brother?" Thor asked, looking around him. Nina could tell he didn't want anyone else to hear their conversation.

"I do not believe that is any of your concern."

"It is if it has to do with you. She should be taken to the healers."

"We both know that the healers would not be able to provide the treatment she needs."

"And you think that you can?" Thor said incredulously.

"No," Loki said, and at this he stopped and turned towards Thor, letting go of Nina's arm, "I do not think that anyone in this realm can help her. We will discuss this further tomorrow, for now I must attend to Ms. Nina." Loki said. Nina was grateful for that, her legs were starting to feel very shaky and she felt woozy again. Plus, her head felt like it would split in two from a massive headache.

"Very well, I will lead her to her chambers. Return to yours." Thor said.

"She resides with me."

"Loki-" Thor started to reprimand but Loki cut him off.

"She resides with me, I will not leave her to the care of the Allfather."

"You have my word, she will be safe."

"Yes, because that word worked so well with Lady Jane's first visit to Asgard. She stays with me. " There was a pause, then Thor spoke again.

"I will have to explain this to Father."

"By all means do so. While you're at it maybe you two could have a conversation about your leash. He may want to make it a little longer, it sounds as if he is constricting your voice." And with that, Loki held out his arm to Nina and the two of them walked away from Thor.

"That was a little harsh wasn't it?" Nina asked as they headed to a grand staircase.

"Thor needs to learn to voice his opinions rather than always agree with his Father. The Allfather is still a broken man."

"Broken how?" Nina asked when they reached the top of the staircase. It then turned into another two staircases, one on each side. However at the top of the first staircase there was a portrait of a woman.

"By grief." Loki said simply, looking at the portrait.

"She's beautiful, who is she?" Nina asked.

"Queen Frigga, Thor and I's mother, and the Allfathers wife…she died not too long ago"

"I'm so sorry."

"As am I." Loki said, looking at the portrait for another moment. "Come, there is much to discuss. We'll have some privacy in my chambers." They headed up another golden staircase. However, halfway through the climb, Nina's legs crumpled.

"Sorry, sorry. I just need a minute." Nina said, leaning her head against the bannister. Her headache was almost at excruciating level. Loki simply picked her up into his arms.

"You don't need to, I'll be fine in a few minutes." Nina said, embarrassed.

"Are you calling an insult to my strength?"

"No, but-"

"Then there is no issue. I have the strength and stamina of more than a hundred of your mortal men." Loki said, and Nina snorted rolling her eyes. But she did put her arms around his neck. They started to head down into quieter and smaller hallways. Nina couldn't figure out how Loki even knew where he was _going_, it was all so confusing, or maybe that was on account of her head being all muddled.

Finally, they came upon a dead end, with a table with a vase of flowers in front of it. But Loki merely pulled his hand out from under Nina's thigh for a moment, made a gentle movement, and the wall faded away. It revealed a spiral staircase just barely big enough to fit them both. After only a few flights, the staircase opened up into a tower room.

The room was large, circular, and elegant. It was surrounded on one side by windows that could see out to the deep blue and purple setting sky. On the other side, surrounding the large four-poster bed was a library, covering the entire wall. There was also a desk nearby that held various books held open on the desk by their spines, and parchment, ink, and quill. There were stacks of books resting upon the floor near it as well. The floor was black stone, with veins of gold interlaced through it, and when Nina looked up she could see stars painted upon the ceiling surrounded by a dark sky.

Loki took her over near the windows, to a black chaise and set her down upon it. Next to the chaise there was sustenance already waiting for her, a delicious looking meal, a glass of water, and a gold goblet. With a wave of his hand Loki also charmed his desk chair to sit next to the chaise.

"Now eat, and tell me what happened." Loki said, and Nina did. She told him all about the cave, what happened to the necklace, the voices, and the visions. She told him how Time had tempted her by putting Loki's life on the line. While she told the story she would take bites of roast chicken with herbed vegetables, a large piece of bread, and half a pomegranate. Loki would sometimes partake of Nina's pomegranate as well, and drank from his own goblet. Once Nina had finished her story, and her meal, there was silence and Loki sat back in his chair deep in thought.

"How did you find me?" Nina asked.

"The moment Heimdall saw you disappear I convinced Thor to go and look for you. I unfortunately could not leave Asgard myself without substantial difficulty; Thor also could arrive much more quickly and secure S.H.I.E.L.D's forces if needed. I believe that once he saw my distress he realized that it must be something important and agreed to try and find you. I told him of the places that I believed he would find you, that creek where I first saw you being one of them."

"That's why you were always in that community, you were looking for what I found. Why didn't you take it once you could? You had the necklace, you could have taken it anytime you wanted to."

"Ah yes, but the game with the Avengers and the Tesseract had become much more interesting at that point, and I trusted you with whatever I would find in the vault." Nina smiled at that.

"So…what happened to you after…everything?" Nina asked.

"How do you mean?"

"Well after New York, after what happened on that planet, and I guess…after you came to see me." Nina said. There was a moment of silence as Loki seemed to gather his words.

"I...after speaking with you, I guess you could say that I had a change of heart. I had forcibly put the Allfather into an Odin-sleep-"

"Odin-sleep?"

"A magical sleep state. After that I used his guise to become King. But after speaking with you…it was difficult to resolve myself but I did and lifted the sleeping spell from the Allfather, and told Thor what I had done. They were both furious, but were willing to give me partial freedom in exchange for sitting on an advising council and helping them understand who Asgard's enemies truly were. I met quite a few enemies of Asgard when I fell from here."

"Partial freedom?"

"I must have guards stationed outside my doors in the evenings and must be back in my chambers by a certain time. I also must have a guard with me whenever I leave the palace."

"They have got to know that wouldn't stop you."

"Thor and the Allfather do, but Asgard's main council is less than certain. In addition, after what happened to Thor and I's mother, I do not think that Odin could bear to have me imprisoned again."

"Why not?"

"Because my mother could hardly stand it the first time." Loki said simply. After that, the two of them sat in silence.

"Loki, what's going to happen to me?" Nina asked.

"I wish that I had an answer to give you, Nina. Asgardians are not experts on the Tiedelstein."

"Tiedelstein?"

"That is what is haunting you, the Time Gem, one of the Infinity Gems. Something similar happened to Thor's…consort not too long ago."

"And what happened to her?"

"Thor and I managed to rid the Infinity Gem from her body. She recovered." Loki said. Nina could tell that Loki was hiding something from her though; he would not look at Nina, instead staring out the window past her.

"You don't think I'll be as lucky." Nina whispered, and a rock hit her stomach. By the way Loki looked at her, pity mixed with fear and surprise, Nina knew she had guessed right.

"Nina, I am going to do everything in my power to ensure this won't destroy you."

"I know." Nina said, giving him a close-lipped smile. A moment of silence passed, and Nina rubbed her head, closing her eyes. As if this conversation wasn't enough, her head was _killing_ her.

"Here," Loki said, "Drink this." Nina opened her eyes again to see that Loki was holding out the other golden goblet to her. He had told her to refrain from drinking it until she was finished with her story and her meal.

"What is it?"

"Mulled wine, medicinal herbs. Something to help your headache. But wait, just one moment." Loki said when she started to reach for it. Before he handed it to her he waved a hand over it. Immediately, steam appeared at the top. "Now be careful, it's rather warm."

"Thank you." Nina said, and she held it up for a cheers. Loki held his and they clinked glasses, each with small worried smiles and each took a sip. Wanting to clear the air, Nina pointed to a small instrument on a stand on a table.

"What's that?" Nina asked, pointing. Loki turned and looked behind him.

"Oh…that. I am an…amateur musician."

"What is it?" Nina asked excitedly, and tried to get up. Loki pushed her back down on the chaise.

"Rest there, and I will show it to you." Loki said. He put his goblet down on the table, and walked over to the instrument he then picked it up and carried it back to her.

"It's beautiful." Nina murmured. It looked like a mini hand-held harp. It was edged with an Asgardian design around the edges. _How could everything on this world be so beautiful? _Nina thought to herself. "What is it?" She asked sheepishly.

"It's called a lyre."

"Play a song?" Nina asked. Loki cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. "Please?" Nina begged when he gave no answer. He then smiled and chuckled.

"As long as you promise to drink that." Loki said, pointing to her goblet. Nina smiled.

"Promise."

Then Loki leaned back comfortably and he played. The sound was amazingly soothing, Nina couldn't help leaning back in the chaise and watch his fingers move across the chords.

_Amateur my ass_, Nina thought to herself as she sipped her drink. He was amazing, just like at everything else. It was strange to think that he could be so gentle with an instrument but then turn around and try to rip worlds apart.

Nina set her finished goblet down on the table when she was finished and continued to listen to him playing. He seemed to be deep in thought himself, he looked out the window with worry in his features.

Nina didn't realize she had fallen asleep until she felt movement.

"Wha-?"

"Do not be alarmed, I am carrying you to bed."

_Definitely a reason to be alarmed_, Nina thought to herself. But for whatever crazy reason she trusted Loki and didn't protest.

The sheets had already been pulled back when he laid her down, and he sat down on the edge of the bed pulling off her shoes. Nina gave him a thankful smile before her eyes closed again and he put the blankets over her.

"Sleep well Queen Nina." Loki whispered; Nina then felt lips on her forehead.

Then she felt nothing at all.


End file.
